May 13, 2021
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers signed three of their late-round draft picks on Thursday, a day ahead of their rookie camp.
Slaton started 14 games in four seasons at Florida, with a dozen of those coming as a senior, when he set a career high with 37 tackles. He added 1.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for losses, just off his career highs of two sacks and four TFLs from 2019.
An offensive tackle in high school, Slaton will be battle-tested coming out of the powerful SEC. He averaged about 45 snaps per game in 2020, when he was listed at 340 pounds. He was 330 at Florida’s pro day and wants to be at about 320 for the Packers.
Hello Wisconsin
Hello Wisconsin: Packers Have a Strong Draft, and Yes That’s the Only News of the Week
Tim s special post-draft edition of Hello Wisconsin focuses on the draft, which was the only real bit of Packers news this past week.
It was unequivocally a great weekend to be a Packer fan!
The Packers addressed a ton of areas of immediate need in the draft, something they generally failed to do in a 2020 draft that remains mysterious for so many reasons.
Their first-round pick, Eric Stokes, is an elite athlete and a strong cornerback prospect who played high-caliber football against outstanding competition in the SEC. He was a shut-down corner at the college level, has blazing speed and should complement Jaire Alexander nicely if he lives up to his potential.
We heard rumblings about 24 hours before the first round that the Cardinals were likely to take Collins, though he was someone expected to go in the mid-to-late 20’s. Could they have traded back and landed him? Maybe. But his versatility combined with that of Isaiah Simmons and Budda Baker make this a tough defense to play against. Moore makes so much sense in the second round, as we still don’t know if Larry Fitzgerald will return. No matter what, he’s a perfect fit to play the slot in their offense. I liked Gowan better than Wilson, so getting him two rounds later saved their score a bit, as Wilson seemed like a bit of a reach. If there’s one thing I would’ve liked to see them do, it was to add a nose tackle seeing as many of them fell much further than expected.
Terry from Arcadia, WI
In the II on Monday, Spoff wrote, All I know is I m not living in the same society I grew up in. If that is the case, what do you think has changed since you grew up to cause this change in behavior?
I felt some major Ed Tom Bell vibes from Spoff on that one.
Josh from Melbourne, Australia
We re talking a lot about what Amari Rodgers and Kylin Hill can bring to the special-teams game but what about Eric Stokes and Shemar Jean-Charles as gunners? Or will Stokes be focused on earning a starting spot opposite Jaire Alexander? I feel like this draft class has a lot more to offer on special teams than previous years.